A Smurfy Battle
by MWolfL
Summary: A longer version of when Magic Smurf defeated Gargamel with extra stories. Mostly revolves around Magic Smurf, Aeronautic Smurfette, Aquatic Smurfette and the ex-Smurflings  they're full grown Smurfs now . Pairings to come.
1. Strong Love

A.N. Now the story is not going to open with the battle that was mentioned at the end of my previous Smurfs story, but it is the main part of the story. Also, there's going to be a different kind of battle afterwords, a more personal battle. But first, I want to introduce you to a few more pairings that happen before the battle.

It was a few days after Baby Smurfpixie arrived, a group of Smurfs went out to collect walnuts. The group included Smurfette, Hefty, Wild, and Handy. Smurfette and Wild were up in the trees picking the walnuts and Hefty and Handy were below catching the ones Smurfette and Wild picked.

"Just a few more walnuts, and Greedy can make a walnut cake big enough for every Smurf." Handy said.

"Oo, I found a nice big one." Smurette said, reaching for a faraway walnut.

"Careful Smurfette!" Hefty called.

"Don't worry-" Smurfette cut herself off by screaming as she fell!

"Smurfette!" Hefty and Handy gasped!

Wild swopped down to saver her, but missed! Then, Hefty started running backwards.

"I gotcha, I gotcha, I got-*oof*." Hefty caught her!

Unfortunately, the force caused him to hit a rock back first! Hefty fell to the ground unconscious, Smurfette landing to the side of him.

"Hefty!" Handy gasped, running over; he then nudged him. "Hefty wake up!"

Hefty didn't.

"Oh no." Smurfette started to cry.

"Don't worry Smurfette, he's only knocked out." Handy said, checking Hefty's breathing. "We'd better get him back to the village."

Wild swung down and helped Handy carry Hefty back to the village. Once there, all the nearby Smurfs instantly noticed that something was wrong. They drew closer, murmuring worriedly.

"What happened Handy?" Papa Smurf asked, hurrying over.

"Smurfette lost her balance in one of the trees and fell. Hefty got knocked out saving her." Handy explained.

"Oh my." Papa Smurf checked Hefty's breathing and heartbeat. "Well a few days rest and he'll be Smurfy again. We'd best get him to bed."

They did, and Handy, Papa Smurf, and Smurfette took turns caring for Hefty. Mostly Smurfette. The next day Hefty woke up.

"*Oog*, what happened?" Hefty groaned; he then saw Smurfette sitting next to him. "Oh, Smurfette." He then remembered what happened. "Are you all right?"

"Of course, thanks to you." Smurfette smiled. "I'm so relieved to see you awake, I was getting worried. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, except for this headache." Hefty smiled. "Mostly I'm glad to see that you're okay, I got really scared when you started falling."

"Really?"

"Yeah-" Hefty blushed, realized that he was getting close to revealing a secret of his.

"What's wrong?" Smurfette asked, concerned.

"Oh it's...nothing." Hefty lied.

"Hefty come on, you can tell me." Smurfette said.

"I, uh, I can't." Hefty's blush grew a little stronger.

"Of course you can."

"No, seriously, I can't. The words get stuck in my throat."

"Oh." Smurfette thought for a few seconds. "Is there any way you can tell me without actually talking?"

"There's one way but you'd probably think me too forward." Hefty's heart started pounding.

"But-" Smurfette had put a hand to Hefty's chest at that, and stopped when she felt his heart pounding. "You're really that scared to tell me?"

"I think I'm more scared to tell you than I used to be scared about heights." Hefty nodded.

"Okay, what if I promise never to hate you or anything of the sort if you tell me? Will that help?"

"It, er, isn't a matter of hate. The complete opposite actually."

Smurfette started to catch on.

"Wait a minute, Hefty are you trying to tell me that you love me? That's no big surprise all the Smurfs love me like a friend."

"It's not that kind of love for me." Hefty swallowed. "It's stronger than that."

Smurfette suddenly blushed, now getting it.

"All the other Smurfs, well, their love is more like a crush or friendship love. Because of how you look or because they already found someone else. But in my case...it has nothing to do with how you look." Hefty became braver, but not too much; he looked away from Smurfette as he was talking. "Remember I knew you first, back when you were Gargamel's...thing. And I saw you change twice. The first time was on the inside, before Papa Smurf gave you the potion. You felt so sorry for trying to harm us that I forgave you right away. Well I was mad at first but then I forgave you. And then when you saved us from Gargamel as the Lone Smurf...that was very impressive. You proved that you could be more than feminine, that you had cunning and wit befitting a Smurf. Later you proved to be kind, helpful, generous, caring...and my love for you became stronger than the other Smurfs' love for you. The second time you changed was when Gargamel turned you back into his thing. When that happened I felt as if I had lost you, and my heart almost broke. But then I saw you turn back into a Smurf when you became angry with Gargamel for threatening Baby Smurf, and I realized that you truly have become a Smurf deep down and that no magic could reverse it."

"But why didn't you say anything before?" Smurfette asked.

"Because I was scared, scared of you rejecting me."

Smurfette smiled.

"Hefty, look at me."

"I-I can't." Hefty was scared to look in her eyes, because they could show him what Smurfette was feeling.

"It's okay."

Hefty reluctantly did, and was relieved to see no regret or sadness in Smurfette's eyes. Instead he saw happiness and...

"Smurfette...you...?"

Smurfette kissed him. Hefty's eyes widened, surprised, but then his eyes closed as he melted. He then returned the kiss and he and Smurfette fell irreversibly in love with each other. When they broke apart Hefty, tears of happiness forming in his eyes, hugged Smurfette and she hugged him back.

"Oh, I'd better let the other Smurfs know you're all better, they've been worried about you too. Especially Handy." Smurfette realized.

"Of course, but keep our relationship a secret for now. I want us to tell everyone together." Hefty smiled.

"Of course."

Smurfette left Hefty's house to tell the other Smurfs that Hefty's all better. Papa and Handy visited him first.

"Glad to see your Smurfy again Hefty." Handy smiled.

"Yup, and now step back outside." Hefty smiled back, getting up. "Smurfette and I have something to tell you all."

Papa and Handy, confused, went back outside, Hefty and Smurfette following.

"Fellow Smurfs, as you all know I got knocked out saving Smurfette's life." Hefty said. "Well, I did that not only because it was the Smurf thing to do but also because I love her."

"And I love Hefty back." Smurfette said. "We're a couple now."

All the other Smurfs were surprised, and at first didn't know how to react. But Papa, Grandpa, Nanny, the Smurflings, Vanity, and Clumsy and Handy and their families started to cheer. The other Smurfs had to join in after that, though there were plenty who were disappointed because they loved Smurfette too. However, they knew it would be un-Smurfy of them to act like sore losers.

Later that night the Smurfs had a party to celebrate Hefty and Smurfette becoming a couple.

"It's about time Hefty, I was hoping you'd end up with Smurfette or someone else special." Handy smiled to Hefty. "Actually I believe that you deserve Smurfette more than any other Smurf."

"Thanks Handy." Hefty smiled.

"Oh Smurfette this is fabulous!" Vanity smiled in another section of the party. "I was getting worried that you wouldn't be able to find some Smurf due to all the choices you had."

"Well, truthfully I always liked Hefty more than the other Smurfs boyfriend-wise." Smurfette smiled. "Except for Handy but he has Marina. I gave up on him when they first met."

The party included dancing, even slow dances. Clumsy and Pansy, Handy and Marina, and Hefty and Smurfette danced the slow dances mostly. Grandpa Smurf and Nanny Smurf kept an eye on Baby Smurf, Baby Smurfmaid, and Baby Smurfpixie during the party since the two of them didn't mind missing out on the dancing.

As the days passed Hefty and Smurfette continued dating. Grandpa Smurf, Nanny Smurf, and Papa Smurf could see right away that Hefty and Smurfette's love for each other was very strong, and would last forever.

Sure enough, a few months later Hefty plucked up the courage to propose. Even though they had been dating for a short time they had known each other for years and so Hefty felt that it was right. However, just in case, he decided to ask her when they were alone. So, one day he went up to her:

"Hi Smurfette." Hefty smiled.

Smurfette was playing outside with her mouse pet Squeaker. Squeaker most often stayed inside Smurfette's house or played with Wild's animal friends - since he had become close with them - but this time decided to hang around the village.

"Hi Hefty, how are things going?" Smurfette smiled back.

"Things are going great, but they could be going better."

"How so?"

"By the two of us going on a date alone tonight."

You see most of Hefty and Smurfette's dates were in the village and so most of the Smurfs saw them. They didn't mind, since sometimes Handy and Marina and Clumsy and Pansy would decide to join them, making the date more fun.

"Alone?" Smurfette was confused. "Without even Clumsy and Pansy or Handy and Marina?"

"Yeah, I'd like to try a private date this time." Hefty blushed a little.

"Well, okay, it would be a good idea to try it out." Smurfette thought it over. "See what we're like on our own."

"Exactly." Hefty nodded. "_Especially since we'll be alone every night if you say yes to my question._" He thought.

Now, the only ones who really knew what Hefty was planning were Handy and Papa Smurf. Hefty wanted to get Papa's opinion first and needed Handy to make the engagement ring for Smurfette.

Papa Smurf thought it was a good idea. He could tell that Hefty loved Smurfette more than anything. And he already found out about false love the hard way. Even though he and Flowerbell became friends he never loved her like he used to. He realized that it was just a crush, not real love. But, he knew that Hefty's love for Smurfette was way more than a crush.

Handy was more than happy to make and engagement ring for Hefty to give to Smurfette. He made it out of gold, of course, and added a blue jewel. It was fancier than Marina's engagement ring was at first, but Papa Smurf used a potion to turn the dried flower ring into a jeweled flower ring so Handy knew Marina wouldn't mind.

That night, Hefty and Smurfette went to a lake inside the protective shield and had a picnic dinner. They had a great time, and Smurfette was able to find beautiful flowers to replant in her garden. Then, as they were packing up, Hefty decided to ask her the question.

"Hefty I had a wonderful time, this was a good idea." Smurfette smiled.

"So did I, but there's one last thing I have to do." Hefty said.

"What's that?"

Hefty went down on one knee and took out the ring Handy made.

"Smurfette, will you marry me?" Hefty asked. "I know it seems early but I-I love you more than life itself."

Smurfette was surprised but she smiled.

"Of course I'll marry you." She said.

Hefty, overjoyed, slipped the ring on her finger and they kissed. Since it was really late when they got back they decided to tell everyone the good news the following morning.

When they did this time all the Smurfs cheered for them at once. During Hefty and Smurfette's courtship almost all the other Smurfs slowly realized that they could never love Smurfette the way Hefty does.

Since Smurfette wanted a big wedding the Smurfs had a lot of work to do. It took them weeks but they managed to pull it off.

"Hefty, honey, are you sure you don't mind a huge wedding instead of a simple one?" Smurfette asked Hefty a couple days before the wedding.

"I don't care what kind of wedding we have as long as it has two things: you as the bride and me as the groom." Hefty smiled. "Well, I also want our friends there too but you know what I mean."

"Of course." Smurfette kissed him on the cheek.

On the day of the wedding nothing could be more perfect. Hefty was the best man and Marina and Pansy were bridesmaids of course. Papa Smurf performed the ceremony and Hefty and Smurfette exchanged their vows.

Smurfette moved in with Hefty. Handy and some other Smurfs had already worked together to move some of Smurfette's things into Hefty's house. Handy had also made a new bed for the two of them. Smurfette's house was going to be saved so Sassette could move into it later once she became an adult.

The following year, Hefty and Smurfette received a daughter by the blue moon. Baby Smurfette.


	2. A Long Awaited Pairing is Resolved

That same year, Johan, Peewit, and Savina were hanging out. Johan and Savina obviously loved each other deeply, but because of Dame Barbara they never showed it in public. However, quite a while back they did get a chance to admit their feelings for each other. So basically their relationship was like that of Romeo and Juliet's. Thank goodness only Dame Barbara was against it, Savina's uncle the King was very fond of Johan and approved of him being one of Savina's friends. And Savina's cousin Gerard was an even bigger supporter of their friendship. As for other people, well, neither Johan nor Savina heard any disapproval from anyone else.

Johan and Savina were playing archery, which Dame Barbara hated to see Savina do but Savina's uncle liked the idea. He wanted Savina to be able to defend herself and archery was less barbaric than sword fighting.

Afterward, Johan and Savina stopped to have a picnic. Peewit had his own basket, and had started eating it's contents during the middle of the archery practice. So, despite Peewit's larger meal all three of them finished at the same time.

"What a wonderful day." Johan smiled as he rested contentedly against a tree. "I wish every day could be this great."

"I wish they could get better." Savina sighed, getting up and walking away a little.

"What do you mean? This kind of day deserves a song!" Peewit took out his guitar. "Oh I wish every day could be as wonderful as todaaaaaaayy-"

"Peewit!" Johan interrupted, not being the only one with hands over ears. "Please, don't."

"*Sheesh* everyone's a critic." Peewit frowned.

"Still he does have a point, what did you mean Savina?" Johan asked, though actually he had an idea of what she meant.

"Oh Johan, stop faking it." Savina took Johan's hands. "We both know how much we love each other, and I can't stand keeping it a secret any longer! I love you more than anything else in the world and I know you feel the same way about me."

"I do, I really do." Johan agreed, blushing a little.

"Johan, I want you by my side forever." Savina said. "Will you marry me?"

Johan, Peewit, King, and Dame Barbara were all shocked. But only Dame Barbara was shocked in the unhappy sense.

"I...of course I will." Johan smiled, recovering.

Savina kissed him. This left him standing still and rigid, lovestruck.

"Why you lucky stiff!" Peewit said, giving Johan a friendly slap on the back; this caused Johan to sproing back and forth a little. "Oh, literally."

Not for long, Johan fell onto his back now lovesick. This resulted in him falling on top of Peewit.

"Man I **really** hope lovesickness isn't contagious." Peewit frowned sarcastically; he then whistled. "Oh Biquette! Hey help me out of here will ya?"

Biquette, his goat, grabbed Peewit by the collar and dragged him out from under Johan.

"Thanks." Peewit got up and dusted himself off. "Boy, I hope Johan stops doing that or at least warns me first cause otherwise I'll need a chiropractor."

Savina giggled.

But don't forget that King and Dame Barbara were there. They had been distracted by Johan's reaction to Savina's kiss and Peewit's reaction to Johan's reaction but had started to recover.

"Savina!" Dame Barbara scolded. "A princess does not marry a squire-"

She stopped awkwardly because King was glaring at her.

"I-er...that is..." She stammered.

Peewit sniggered, obviously enjoying this.

"Squire or no Johan's character and past deeds make him worthy of my niece's hand in marriage." King said. "Let the wedding take place as soon as possible!"

"Thank you uncle!" Savina laughed, hugging him.

By this point Johan had recovered and also had heard what King had said. He got up.

"Thank you sire, I'll do my best to keep Savina happy all my life." Johan bowed.

"I know you will Johan and there's no need to bow to me anymore." King smiled. "After all you will soon become royal yourself."

"Oh...right." Johan said awkwardly.

"Say, with Johan becoming a prince and eventually king what will that make me?" Peewit asked.

"Oh you will still be the king's court jester, but being my best friend will later protect you from people trying to attack you for annoying them." Johan chuckled.

"Eh, good enough." Peewit shrugged.

Later that day, invitations went out. Johan and Savina even sent the Smurfs an invitation via robin. Papa Smurf received the invite while he was out taking a walk, and rushed back to the village.

"Quiet, quiet my little Smurfs and gather round, I have excellent news!" Papa Smurf called out. "Johan and Savina are getting married and we're all invited to the wedding!"

All the Smurfs, and the Pussywillow Pixies since they were nearby, cheered.

"Oh Papa Smurf, this is wonderful!" Smurfette smiled joyfully.

"Yeah, it's about time those two got married." Hefty agreed.

"Now, since we can't trust all humans we'll be watching the ceremony from the rafters." Papa Smurf said. "And I want you all to remember to be quiet. We'll pay Johan and Savina a quick visit after all the other guests leave and give them our congratulations then."

The wedding was to take place a week after they got the invite, so they had plenty of time to come up with a wedding present. It was difficult, but they decided on two presents to make up for the size (since normally they didn't build anything large enough for humans).

A group of Smurfs helped greedy bake a large cupcake (large for them that is) and Greedy this time was able to control his appetite. Eating a few Smurfberry cookies helped with that too... Anyway, another group of Smurfs worked on a windup Smurf to give to Johan and Savina. It wasn't alive, not even in the sense that Clockwork Smurf and Clockwork Smurfette were, and was larger than Smurfs normally were, but it would always remind Johan and Savina of their friendship with the Smurfs.

The day of the wedding went perfectly. Well, except for Peewit's singing that is. Okay maybe that's a little cruel, but pretty much all of the guests would have agreed that the wedding would have been better without Peewit's singing. Johan and Savina let him sing a full song this time though, since the words were kind and surprisingly sweet. Besides, they were already prepared: they stuck cotton in their ears after their vows were exchanged.

Here are the lyrics of Peewit's song...without the sense of his voice singing it:

Oh there once was a squire named Johan

Who was the opposite of a con

He wasn't officially a knight

But in his heart

Nobility did ignite

And he always made evil wan

Later he won the heart of Savina

Who has the wisdom of Athena

She loved him for his heart

And asked for his hand

So they would never be apart

And as a king Johan won't be obscene-a

Despite Peewit's singing ability, or lack of depending on your perspective, Johan and Savina were touched by his song and later thanked him for the lyrics.

Eventually, Johan and Savina had a daughter named Mala, who grew to be a wonderful ruler. She also grew fond of her Uncle Peewit, making her among the few people who liked him.


	3. A Royal Problem is Dealt With

The following year, King Gerard was looking out his window sadly. Clockwork Smurf and Clockwork Smurfette noticed how miserable their best friend looked and went over to see if he could help.

"Oh Clockworks, am I ever going to find someone?" Gerard affectionately patted Clockwork Smurf and Clockwork Smurfette on the heads. "I mean you two are lucky, you have each other. And Savina is really lucky to find someone who loves her for her. Johan was always one of my favorite people and he will make a wonderful king in the future."

Clockwork Smurf and Clockwork Smurfette understood why their friend was so miserable. He was lonely, and for a good reason. They made sympathetic whirrs and chirps.

"I know you especially sympathize with me Clockwork Smurf, for a while you didn't have anyone." Gerard sighed. "I was busy with Princess Laconia, making you feel lonely, and I apologize for that. It turns out Laconia wasn't who I thought she was."

Clockwork Smurf waved a hand dismissively and pointed to Clockwork Smurfette with more whirrs and chirps.

"Well, true, if you hadn't been feeling lonely Handy wouldn't have made Clockwork Smurfette." Gerard nodded.

Clockwork Smurfette then hugged Gerard's hand. Gerard understood the reason for her hugging his hand right away: she was grateful to him for creating a reason for her existence.

"Your welcome." Gerard smiled slightly; his face then fell again. "And it wasn't just Laconia, it's been the same with all the princesses. They only care about my status and wealth. They didn't even care about you two."

Both Clockworks shook their heads disapprovingly. Anyone who couldn't appreciate anything that made Gerard happy didn't deserve him at all.

Clockwork Smurfette then got an idea. She leapt up and grabbed Gerard's hat, then tossed it onto the bed.

"Hey!" Gerard protested slightly, though actually a bit amused. "What was that for?"

He went over to retrieve his hat. Clockwork Smurf, getting the idea, followed Gerard, hopped onto the bed, and tugged at Gerard's robe. Clockwork Smurfette joined in.

"Huh?" Gerard was really confused. "Okay, why are you two trying to remove my royal clothing-"

He stopped, slowly getting the idea.

"Wait a minute, my royal clothing..." He thought it over and then smiled a genuine smile. "Brilliant! Of course, if people don't know that I'm the king then they'll treat me based on my personality instead of my status! Especially women! That's it!"

Clockwork Smurf and Clockwork Smurfette let go, allowing Gerard to run to the kitchen.

"Miss Sourberry! I need cloth right away." Gerard said, entering the kitchen.

Miss Sourberry had always been like a second mother to Gerard, and was the only human he really trusted inside his kingdom. After those three relatives of his betraying him you can't blame him for that.

"Of course sire, do you want silk or velvet?" Miss Sourberry asked.

"Neither, bring me something plain, something the peasants would wear."

"The peasants?" Miss Sourberry was very confused.

"Yes, Clockwork Smurfette and Clockwork Smurf gave me a brilliant idea: if I disguise myself as a peasant then I'll be able to find a girl who will love me for me." Gerard explained.

"Ah I see, very clever." Miss Sourberry smiled. "Very well, I'll be back in half-an-hour at most, feel free to have some cookies while you're waiting."

Gerard sat down and did. It ended up taking Miss Sourberry ten minutes to come back with the cloth.

"The market wasn't that crowded today." Miss Sourberry explained. "Now to sew your new clothes. Oh, and I also got you some plain leather shoes too."

"Great, thanks I forgot about that." Gerard looked over the shoes approvingly.

In a short time, but not very short, Miss Sourberry finished Gerard's new clothing. Gerard hid in the pantry to change, and when he came out he didn't look like a prince anymore. At least not to a shallow person.

"How do I look?" Gerard asked.

"Like you did when Clockwork Smurf saved you from that dungeon, only taller and healthier." Miss Sourberry noticed.

"Thanks." Gerard chuckled.

He never held a grudge towards Miss Sourberry for not recognizing him that night. After all it had been years since they last saw each other, and unlike herself Gerard had changed physically during that time.

"Now Clockwork Smurf, Clockwork Smurfette, I'm afraid you can't come with me." Gerard went over to the table where the Clockworks sat. "Most people know you two to be my constant companions, and so you would be a giveaway."

Clockwork Smurf and Clockwork Smurfette nodded, though only Clockwork Smurf wasn't sad about it. There had been that time when Gerard put all his trust into Clockwork Smurf, leaving little for himself. Even when Gerard learned to trust himself he still never traveled without Clockwork Smurf and later Clockwork Smurfette. So, Clockwork Smurf was proud of Gerard for deciding to make the journey on his own.

"I'll be back tonight in time for dinner." Gerard said to Miss Sourberry. "And thank you."

"Of course sire, and you're welcome." Miss Sourberry smiled.

Gerard enjoyed himself as he walked around his kingdom. Despite being a king who visited his subjects often, a lot of people didn't recognize him. The rest did, but were in denial about it due to not believing that their king would dress up like one of them. He even overheard some of his female subjects talking about him when he went to have lunch in a tavern:

"How I would love to marry a kind and noble person like our king."

"But he is a royal. In my case it would be embarrassing to ask him out, I don't have any clothes that are fit to be seen with him."

"I would just be too shy, especially since he usually travels with a few guards. And he's never without those two Clockworks either. Now if I could catch him alone that would be a different story."

"You'd really think he'd say yes to any of us?"

"Don't forget how he treats us. He considers his subjects equal to him. Besides, he did pass that law that stated that a royal didn't have to marry a royal or another person of high rank anymore. They can end up with whoever they like now."

Now you would think that this conversation would lead to Gerard asking one of them out, but that didn't happen. Even though he saw all the women he didn't feel anything other than gratitude and amusement. Gratitude for them apparently caring more about his personality and amusement for them not knowing that their king was there overhearing the whole thing. Heck, they didn't even seem to notice him, but then again they were too busy concentrating on each other's words to really notice anyone else.

In general Gerard had a pleasant day with his subjects. Even though no one was really kind or respectful towards him like they were when he was in his royal clothing no one spurned him or was mean to him either. But when a princess rode by that was a different story.

She was obviously on her way to see him, but when she saw Gerard greeting her she winced at him and told him to be on his way. Gerard wasn't surprised, he caught a few other princesses acting that way towards his subjects in the past. He just shrugged and walked away.

"Her loss." He said to himself. "Her loss for seeing people for what they look like rather than who they really are. At this rate I might as well give up on princesses. Thank goodness for that law I passed."

He came home that night feeling better but not any less lonely. But, at least his miserableness had stopped.

He continued this for a week, until he decided to travel outside the town surrounding his castle. Miss Sourberry was against it at first, fearing for his safety, but then he reminded her that most people in his own kingdom didn't recognize him. Which of course meant that robbers certainly wouldn't recognize him. If anything they would just steal his package of food, and he promised to return to the town if that should happen.

He started walking through a path that led away from kingdom, but felt even more lonely due to no one else being on the path. So he decided to walk through the surrounding woods instead. At least he could always find friendship in the animals. Being a friend of the Smurfs certainly has it's advantages.

Sure enough a few deer, birds, and rabbits came up to him. The squirrels were too busy to stop and chatter, but they did wave to him.

Gerard continued on, not worrying about getting lost. He knew the animals would help him find his way out if he did get lost.

But then, he heard beautiful humming. He stopped, stunned, not expecting to meet another human in the woods. For it was certainly a human, no other animal could hum like that. He quietly continued on, following the humming, until he came across a woman wearing an old brown dress doing her laundry in the river. There was a cabin near her, and a fox lying nearby.

Gerard hid by a tree and continued watching, still surprised. He had no idea who this woman was or why she was living in the woods. For that cabin had to have been hers, it looked too tidy to have been abandoned.

The woman finished her laundry, hanging up her cloth items, and went over to the fox, petting him. Gerard continued watching, feeling as if the air was being sucked out of him. But not in an unpleasant way.

The woman turned around to head back to her cabin, and that's when Gerard saw her face. Even though she had obviously been living there for a long time and hadn't been able to keep clean properly Gerard still saw in her the most beautiful woman ever. She had short brown hair that looked as if it had been cut with a jagged knife and dark brown eyes, but her face was a friendly face and her eyes shone with a kindness Gerard had never seen before in a woman. Well, except for maybe in his cousin Savina, but since she is a relative she doesn't count.

Gerard watched as she picked some nearby berries and actually shared them with some other creatures, including even a skunk. Gerard realized that she had been living there so long that all the animals automatically trusted her.

"Easy Pansy." A nearby and familiar voice suddenly said.

Gerard and the woman turned towards the voice, him surprised and her startled.

"Don't worry Clumsy, I'm not going to let us get hurt." A female voice responded.

Yup, Clumsy Smurf and Pansy Pixie. Well Pansy Smurf now but you know what I mean.

Anyway, they were out taking a flight by Pansy carrying Clumsy. Clumsy was carrying their daughter Baby Smurfpixie. They had just entered the clearing with the woman and her cabin. Unfortunately, Pansy was getting tired.

"I...don't...think...I can-" Pansy lost strength and the three of them fell!

"I've got you!" The woman ran over and caught them. "Are you all right?"

"Clumsy! Pansy!" Gerard rushed over, forgetting about the woman for a second.

The woman gasped, startled, reminding Gerard of her.

"Oh sorry, I was walking nearby and saw two of my friends and their daughter fall." Gerard explained. "Thank you for saving them."

"Oh, of course." The woman smiled.

Clumsy and Pansy were confused by Gerard's outfit, but realized that he was in disguise and so decided not to say anything.

"Gerard, what are you doing here?" Clumsy asked. "You live way down there." He pointed towards Gerard's kingdom.

"I thought I'd take a long walk today." Gerard smiled gratefully, glad that Clumsy and Pansy had caught on to his being in disguise.

"Oh."

"So who are you?" The woman asked Clumsy.

"Clumsy Smurf, and this is my wife Pansy."

"I'm Amala." The woman said.

"Beautiful." Gerard smiled.

"Thank you." Amala smiled back. "Smurf? Oh, I think I've heard of you guys. That is the animals sometimes talk about you."

"You can understand them?" Gerard was surprised.

"Sort of, I've been living amongst them for so long that I picked up on a few words. I thought I was mishearing whenever I heard the animals say the word Smurf but it turns out I wasn't."

"How long have you been living here?" Pansy asked.

"Since I was a little girl."

Everyone looked at Amala with surprise.

"You see when I was little my parents died and so I had to live with my aunt, my mom's sister." Amala explained. "But she wanted me to become a lady so that I could marry some wealthy guy, allowing her to be comfortably well off. My aunt was never that fond of my father, and apparently saw him in me. Well, I knew all the upper class families nearby were snobs so it didn't take me long to decide to run away. I've been living here ever since."

"I hope you haven't hated upper class people in general since." Gerard said.

"No, just the ones I used to live next too, why?"

"Because the king of that kingdom over there is really kind and generous." Gerard pointed towards his own kingdom.

"Oh, interesting." Amala thought it over. "Well I haven't really visited any towns since I ran away nor has anyone before you been here before so I've been cut off from society for a long time."

They continued talking for a while, and became good friends. When evening started to fall though Gerard realized that he had to head home so he promised to come back as soon as possible.

Sure enough, he was able to come back the next day, and every other day after that. They talked about various subjects, like how they lost their parents. Amala also explained how she met Vivian the fox: she rescued her as a cub when Vivian's parents were killed by hunters. Vivian hasn't left her side since.

Gerard and Amala became very fond of each other during that time. Gerard liked Amala because for the first time he found a girl who he could trust with the Smurfs and who was kind to the animals. Not to mention liking him for him, but his subjects were the same way so Amala wasn't the first. Amala really liked Gerard back, not only for his personality but also because he was the first human besides herself that she had heard of who the animals liked. Even her fox friend Vivian really liked Gerard, and normally she was wary of humans. Eventually the other Smurfs met Amala too and became good friends with her.

After a couple months had passed, Gerard and Amala both realized that they had fallen in love with each other. Gerard admitted his feelings first, Amala returned them, and they kissed. They then knew that they would be together forever.

Gerard decided to put Amala to the test: if she really loved him, she wouldn't mind giving up her life in the woods for him. Even if it meant having to leave Vivian behind if Vivian wanted to stay in the woods instead of going to the palace.

The next time he went out to visit her he did so in his royal clothing and arrived by coach. Well sort of, the coach couldn't go through the woods so Gerard had to walk the rest of the way. Amala looked at him shocked.

"Wait a minute, you're an upper class guy?" Amala asked.

"Yes, I was in disguise so that I could find someone who would love me for me and not for my status and wealth." Gerard explained. "And you are that someone."

"Oh." Amala smiled, obviously approving of Gerard wanting someone not shallow. "Hey wait a minute, you wouldn't happen to be the king of that kingdom would you?" She smirked, pointing towards Gerard's kingdom.

"Yeah." Gerard chuckled sheepishly.

"Way to sell yourself." Amala continued smirking.

"I just wanted to make sure that you hadn't become prejudice of wealthy people like royals."

"Well I haven't. I know everyone is different no matter their status." Amala grinned. "So, why let me know about your real status now?"

"Because...I love you." Gerard had never proposed before so he was a little nervous. "I love you more than anything...and I was wondering if you wouldn't mind becoming my queen. I don't want to force you to leave your home, but I do want to be with you."

"I love you more than anything too." Amala smiled. "And truthfully ever since we first met this place started to feel lonely without you here. I now know that my true home is with you. And even though I'm more comfortable with nature than I am with upper class homes I want to be with you too. So yes, I wouldn't mind becoming your wife. I don't care about the queen title."

"But what about Vivian?" Gerard asked, happy though a little concerned.

Vivian walked up to him and sat down, gazing at him and wagging her tail.

"I think she wants to come with us." Amala chuckled. "She's been living with me for so long that she wouldn't be happy being alone in the woods. Besides, she really likes you."

"Sounds good to me, she can have run of the palace grounds." Gerard smiled. "But we have to let her know that she can't attack any animals or my subjects will get very angry. My friend Miss Sourberry can feed her instead."

"Of course."

Amala went up to him and hugged him. They both kissed.

Gerard's subjects weren't too surprised about him marrying a peasant obviously, though they didn't expect him to find someone in the woods. It was understandable, Gerard never expected to find his love in the woods either. Even so, the people became very fond of their new queen.

Amala ended up not minding becoming a queen. Mostly she was grateful for being able to take baths more often as well as eating proper foods again. While she was living in the woods she mostly at nuts and berries, though Vivian would force her to eat some of the meat she caught now and then. Amala did willingly trade in her dress for royal clothing, but refused to wear anything fancy. She preferred simple designs instead. She also willingly wore shoes, but looked for comfort more than style.

Vivian ended up becoming a liked member of the kingdom as well. She understood why she wasn't allowed to hunt most of the animals in the kingdom, and was happy eating food from the palace anyway. She still hunted mice and rats, mostly rats, now and then though. At least whenever she heard a human screaming about finding some. As for the humans she was always wary of most of the adults but very kind and friendly with the babies and children, even when some of the younger ones would pull her tail. When that happened she just gave them a glaring look, which would make them let go. She often wandered the kingdom at night, and ended up stopping thievery now and then that way. Because of that she was unofficially adopted by the palace guards and knights as one of their watchdogs.

Eventually Gerard and Amala had a daughter as well, a daughter named Daffodil. Daffodil and her cousin Mala became great friends, and Daffodil also became a wonderful ruler.

Even Vivian had descendants. She eventually found a male fox who was lonely out in the woods and liked how friendly Vivian was to humans. You see he had been saved by a human from a hunters trap and so also knew that all humans weren't bad. Gerard named the male fox Gusto for his love of agility and palace parties.

Oh, and Peewit found someone as well. Her name was Fiana and she was an average member of the kingdom, with one difference: she was tone deaf. Meaning she actually liked Peewit's singing (much to his relief) unlike anyone else apart from Harmony Smurf. She also found Peewit amusing and brave, and fortunately loved to cook about as much as he loved to eat.


	4. Baby Smurf's Destiny

Hundreds of years later, Baby Smurf, Baby Smurfmaid, Baby Smurfpixie, and Baby Smurfette were now Smurflings.

Baby Smurfaid was renamed Aquatic Smurfette, Aqua for short. She wore dresses, mostly light blue ones to represent the water or dark green ones to represent seaweed, with hats to match. She was the best swimmer amongst the Smurfs apart from her mother Marina, and also discovered that she could talk to aquatic creatures. This caused Nat Smurfling to develop a close friendship with her since the only aquatic animals he could really talk to were the birds or amphibians.

Baby Smurfpixie became Aeronautic Smurfette, but her speedy flying gave her the nickname Arrow. She was a better flier than her mom Pansy, but still had yet to master landing without crashing. She was also a faster runner than her dad Clumsy but now and then would trip. Despite her slight clumsiness she was very adventurous and loved to explore the woods outside the village. Her parents allowed her to go off on her own as long as she promised to not travel further than the Smurfberry patches, which marked the end of the protective shield around them. But eventually she stopped exploring in her own. As she grew she developed a bond with Dreamy Smurf, who was also adventurous, and they started to explore the woods together.

Baby Smurfette became Gardener Smurfette since she grew to love gardening almost more than Smurfette or Farmer Smurf did. She also started to teach Slouchy Smurfling about gardening so that he could grow his own vegetables. He ended up catching on quickly, and enjoyed his new work.

Poor Baby Smurf however hadn't discovered his talent, so he was just named Smurfling. This saddened him, but despite it he was friendly with all the other Smurfs and Smurflings. In fact it was safe to say that he was the friendliest and most selfless Smurf ever. He was even more tolerant of Brainy than most other Smurfs.

Now, since it was hundreds of years later that meant that some human friends of theirs had already died of old age. All the Smurfs were sad about it, but they moved on since they knew it would happen anyway. Clockwork Smurf and Clockwork Smurfette however...well, they were almost heartbroken when Gerard died. They moved back into the village for a long time to recover, and then after some words from Smurfette - who told them about her first pet Squeaky - they decided to go back to the kingdom to be with Gerard's daughter Daffodil.

One day Smurfling was sadly resting on the railing surrounding the Smurflings' house, watching the other Smurfs working and laughing. He also watched the other Smurflings playing together and having fun. Papa Smurf and Smurfette noticed his sad look and went over to talk to him. Even though Smurfette had a child of her own she always viewed Baby Smurf/Smurfling as a son. In Papa Smurf's case it was more like grandson, since the other Smurfs acted like fathers towards the child.

"What's wrong Smurfling?" Smurfette asked.

"That's whats wrong, my name." Smurfling said.

Papa Smurf and Smurfette looked at each other knowingly. They already knew how Smurfling felt about not finding his one talent.

"Don't worry Smurfling, someday your talent will come." Papa Smurf said.

Now, truthfully a few of the Smurfs remembered that Smurfling had magical powers when he was a baby, mostly Papa Smurf, Smurfette, and Brainy. But Smurfling hasn't shown any magical powers since he became a Smurfling so they never said anything to him about it. They didn't know whether his powers will come back or not and they didn't want to accidentally give him false hope.

"Papa Smurf, I remember you saying once that a baby Smurf's first word can provide a hint to his destiny. Or her destiny, recently." Smurfling said. "What was mine?"

Papa Smurf and Smurfette looked at each other awkardly.

"What?" Smurfling was confused.

"Er, keep in mind that even Grandpa Smurf hasn't been able to figure out why you said it..." Papa Smurf hesitated.

"Said what?"

"Gargamel."

Smurfling was shocked.

"Hold on, Gargamel? The name of that guy who was our arch-nemesis back when I was a baby?" Smurfling's eyes widened. "What the Smurf?"

A.N. In this case Smurf did not substitute for a swear word. He was saying something more like 'What the heck?'.

"It shocked us too when we found out." Smurfette shrugged.

"Okay, that's just weird." Smurfling shook our head. "What kind of future can a Smurf have with an enemy's name for a first word?"

"Well, never mind that." Papa Smurf smiled. "Why don't you go play with the other Smurflings?"

"Maybe later." Smurfling sighed.

"Or why don't you have a chat with Grouchy?" Smurfette suddenly got an idea for taking Smurfling's mind of his problem.

"Grouchy? Why him?"

"Because he's probably the only Smurf more attached to you than me or Papa Smurf." Smurfette smiled. "You see when you first arrived it turned out that you weren't supposed to have been delivered to us. A letter arrived later saying so, but never said where you were supposed to be delivered to instead. We were all upset about the idea, but Grouchy was the one who worked hardest to keep you. He actually ran away with you. Unfortunately a storm appeared, and Grouchy had to give in and return. We sent you back that very night. But then you were returned to us the following night because of Grouchy's sincere devotion to you."

Smurfling was stunned. He had never known about that story before.

"I think I'll go find him, excuse me." Smurfling came down from the Smurflings' house and ran off.

"Clever idea Smurfette." Papa Smurf smiled approvingly.

"Thanks Papa Smurf." Smurfette smiled back.

Smurfling wandered around the village until he found Grouchy, who was hiding out behind a house.

"Hi Grouchy." Smurfling said.

"Huh? Oh, hi Smurfling." Grouchy said. "Something wrong?"

Smurfling just smiled. He knew that Grouchy was always friendlier to him than he was to most of the other Smurfs but until he heard the story of his first arrival to the village wasn't sure why. Heck, Grouchy was even grumpy towards the other Smurflings, though not as bitter sounding as he was to most of the adult Smurfs.

"Smurfette told me the story of my arrival to the village." Smurfling explained.

"Oh." Grouchy now knew where this was going.

"And, well, I wanted to thank you for causing my permanent stay in the village." Smurfling smiled, sitting down next to Grouchy. "I can't think of a better home than here."

"Well, it was you imitating my scowl that won me over." Grouchy shrugged. "You have a good sense of humor. That and, I don't know, I guess I just sensed goodness in you. Strong goodness."

Smurfling hugged Grouchy, who, after a few seconds, hugged him back.

"You know you're the only one I don't mind hugging." Grouchy remarked.

"You're really not a sourpuss are you?" Smurfling smiled. "I always had a feeling that deep down you were really good but I wasn't sure if I was right or not."

"You're right, the truth is I'm not really a sourpuss." Grouchy admitted. "I do like more than I care to admit, I just have been this way for as long as I can remember. I can't seem to stop it either. If I smile for a long time I start to feel pain."

"Maybe I can act as your interpreter?" Smurfling suggested. "I seem to understand you better than the other Smurfs so next time you say you hate something I can confirm whether it's true or not. I have noticed that sometimes you accidentally hurt feelings when you say you hate something and I have a feeling that you feel bad about that."

"Yeah, I do." Grouchy admitted. "Actually I-I would like that kid, thanks."

"No problem, and maybe we can hang out more?"

"I would really like that."

For a few seconds, Smurfling could've sworn that he saw a slight but genuine smile on Grouchy.

After that, Grouchy and Smurfling hung out more and the other Smurfs saw a change in Grouchy. Grouchy's scowl had become gentler, and he started speaking in more pleasant tones. Well, pleasant for him anyway.

They also realized that Grandpa Smurf had been right about Grouchy's Greek statue counterpart Grouchus: he wasn't that different from Grouchy at all. Whenever Grouchy said that he hated something Smurfling would always correctly confirm whether it was true or not, and it turned out that Grouchy didn't hate that much at all.

A.N. Yeah, I figured that eventually Papa Smurf and the others returned to the village and had arrived not long after they left either. At least not to the Smurfs who didn't go on the trip. I think that eventually the group found a magical creature of some sort, like a wizard, who was able to help them with the time crystals.

Anyway, Smurfling's new relationship with Grouchy took his mind off his talent problem and he became happier than ever before. One day, much later:

"Hey Grouchy?" Smurfling asked.

"Yeah kid?" Grouchy said.

"I was wondering...would you mind if I called you dad?"

Now, they were in the middle of the village when Smurfling asked that, so most of the other Smurfs overheard. They were a little surprised by Smurfling's question, but even more surprised by Grouchy's answer:

"I would love that." Grouchy this time kneeled and hugged Smurfling, who hugged him back.

A few days after that Papa Smurf, Brainy, Grouchy, Sassette, Snappy, Nat, and Smurfling were taking a walk through the woods, eventually entering the unprotected part. They were visiting Brenda, who was creating a transportation spell that the Smurfs could use to visit descendants of their old human friends without running into any dangers along the way. Unfortunately Papa Smurf's transportation spells were either too complicated or not powerful enough for more than two or three Smurfs.

"I'm surprised Brenda is still alive after all this time." Brainy remarked; he had gotten over his bias of her a very long ago.

"Not really, witches and wizards and other similar species are able to live for hundreds of year." Papa Smurf explained. "Take Homnibus, he's lived for so long that it wouldn't do you any good to ask him his age."

"Because he's self-conscious about it?" Snappy guessed.

"No, because he doesn't even remember how old he is." Papa Smurf chuckled.

That caused the others to chuckle too.

Fortunately Brenda came up with the perfect spell for what the Smurfs needed, and after expressing their thanks they headed back to the village.

Unfortunately, they were still in the unprotected part of the forest when they neared a woodsman. This meant that when the woodsman started to chop down a tree, the tree started to fall towards them!

"Run my little Smurfs!" Papa Smurf called.

They started to run, but unfortunately they ran in front of the tree instead of perpendicular to it. And what made things worse was that the tree was so tall that it looked as if they weren't going to make it!

Suddenly, Grouchy tripped!

"Dad!" Smurfling gasped, running back to him.

"Go on, I can't make it my ankle is sprained." Grouchy groaned.

"I can't leave you." Smurfling protested.

The other Smurfs had stopped, watching the scene with horror.

"You're going to have to...son." Grouchy said, tears actually forming in his eyes.

They weren't as big as the ones in Smurfling's eyes though.

The tree had now been entirely chopped and was falling! Smurfling stood between Grouchy and the tree.

"Please." He pleaded quietly, holding his hands out as if he though he could hold the tree up. "Please don't fall on my family. Don't fall on my dad or grandpa. You can fall on me I don't care what happens to me but please don't fall on them. I don't want them to get hurt or worse. Please."

As he was saying this, something really surprising happened: there was a glow coming from his hands! Smurfling didn't notice, because his face was facing the ground and he had his eyes closed, but the other Smurfs did and they were shocked. Then, the tree started to glow as well and even started to stop falling!

"Please fall somewhere where you won't hurt anyone. Please." Smurfling continued pleading.

As if obeying, the tree landed a few degrees away, not landing on any of the Smurfs nor any nearby animals!

Smurfling froze as the tree fell, but after a few seconds opened his eyes and realized that the tree apparently did what he was pleading. He looked at the tree, confused, until they all heard the woodsman coming over.

"Come on my little Smurfs, we'd better get out of here." Papa Smurf said.

Smurfling, Snappy, Sassette, and Nat helped Grouchy up and practically carried him away from the scene. Later on Brainy joined in helping Grouchy back to the village.

When they got back Papa Smurf explained what had happened to everyone else, Grouchy adding what Smurfling had been wishing during the whole time since he overheard. They were surprised, but no more surprised than Smurfling who dropped his mouth open.

"You mean...you mean I used magic?" Smurfling gasped, having seen magic in action before.

"You did, just like you used to do when you were a baby." Papa Smurf nodded.

"When I was a baby? Why didn't you say anything before?"

"We weren't sure if your magic was still there or not, and if it wasn't we didn't want to disappoint you. You see your magic disappeared around the time you became a Smurfling."

"Wow. I wonder why my magic came back now?"

"I think I know why." Grandpa Smurf said. "When he first gained magic powers he didn't know how to control them, that's why they disappeared later. But then Smurfling here made a selfless request today, a request to not hurt his family. He didn't even care what happened to him as long as his family didn't get hurt. It was that selflessness that brought his powers back. It looks like Smurfling here can only use his magic for selfless or helpful reasons, he can never use it for himself."

"And that magic he used." Papa Smurf smiled, amazed. "I mean being able to move a falling tree with little effort. Not even I'm able to do that with my potions. It is obvious that Smurfling here has more magic inside his heart than I have in my lab so I say it's time we give him a new name. How does the name Magic Smurfling sound?"

"I think it sounds super Smurfy." Smurfette agreed.

"I-I really like it too." Magic Smurfling smiled, touched.

And so, Smurfling became Magic Smurfling. Eventually, he would become Magic Smurf.

A few days after that, Homnibus paid Papa Smurf a little visit. Papa Smurf greeted Homnibus along the outskirts of the village after Homnibus called him over. Grandpa Smurf and Nanny Smurf, confused, followed and Homnibus allowed them to come as well.

"What is it Homnibus?" Papa Smurf asked quietly, knowing that Homnibus only spoke to him in private if it was an important matter.

"I was just checking up on Smurfling through my magic a few days ago and found out that he has his magic powers back." Homnibus said quietly. "Magic Smurf his name is now am I correct?"

"Yes, but why were you checking on Magic Smurf?" Grandpa Smurf asked.

"Oh I've been watching the little guy ever since he permanently arrived at your village." Homnibus smiled.

"What?" Papa Smurf gasped slightly, surprised. "How did you know about...none of us ever told you the story of his arrival to the village."

"No one had to." Homnibus said. "You see, I was the one he was originally supposed to go to."

Papa Smurf, Grandpa Smurf, and Nanny Smurf stared at him, mouths dropped open.

"You? Pardon me but that's the first time I ever heard of a baby Smurf going to a human, magical or not." Nanny Smurf put her hands on her hips, bewildered.

"Yes me, I made a personal request to Mother Nature. I asked her to give me the next baby Smurf that had an extra-good heart, or pure heart if you will. However the stork automatically delivered him to you guys, so after I found out I sent an anonymous letter to you to give him back so that he could be delivered to me. During that time I watched him with you. I knew you would grow attached to him so I felt bad for taking him away from you, but what really caused me to change my mind was seeing Grouchy work so hard to keep him. Then when I read Smurfette's note after I received him, that clinched it. I decided to let him stay with you guys."

"But why did you want a pure hearted Smurf in the first place?" Grandpa Smurf asked.

"Because I planned to raise him in magic, like an apprentice, and then send him to you guys. That way, he would be powerful enough to help you with your greatest foe: Gargamel."

Papa Smurf, Grandpa Smurf, and Nanny Smurf stared at Homnibus, stunned.

"That's why Magic's first word was 'Gargamel'." Papa Smurf realized. "His destiny is to defeat him."

"Exactly." Homnibus nodded. "A while after you received him I figured that it would be best if you got extra protection, especially from Azrael. So that's why I allowed all of you to finish raising Homnibus-One, or Puppy as the original Smurflings renamed him. I also wanted Magic to gain his powers early so that he would have plenty of time to train, so I put them in the locket."

"You mean Magic is the only one who can open the locket?"

"That's right, of course he already has all his powers but the locket isn't empty. It contains two pictures: one of all of you and another of your original human friends, like Johan and Gerard. The second picture is to make sure that Magic never forgets the human friends he knew as a baby."

"So those powers of his...they can only be activated for selfless reasons?" Papa Smurf asked, wanting to make sure.

"No, just when his heart isn't weighed down with sadness, anger, or cruelty." Homnibus shook his head.

"So that's why the little tyke hadn't been able to use his powers between his infancy and when he saved Grouchy and the rest of you from the tree." Grandpa Smurf realized. "Because when he first became a Smurfling he didn't gain an original name due to us not knowing his main talent and that sadden him."

Homnibus nodded.

"Don't tell Magic Smurf any of this, he's still young and has a long life to enjoy before his destiny." Homnibus then started to leave. "And best not tell any of the other Smurfs either, some of them might become jealous."

"You mean like Brainy." Papa Smurf chuckled.

Homnibus nodded, also amused.


	5. New Romances Blossom

The centuries passed until all the Smurflings became full grown Smurfs.

One day Arrow Smurfette flew over the village to find Dreamy on a tree branch and gazing at the sky.

"Hi Dreamy." Arrow smiled, landing on a branch near his.

"Oh, hi Arrow." Dreamy smiled back, always glad to see her.

Then, he suddenly realized that he was more glad than usual. He also saw how attractive she had become over the centuries.

Arrow had noticed that Dreamy seemed different to her. In an instant, he was good looking, and his smile made her heart skip a beat. She realized that she had fallen in love with him, but hesitated to say anything at first. After all they had been friends for so long, and this new feeling was so sudden that she needed time to get used to it.

Similar thoughts happened with Dreamy, except in his case it took longer to figure out what he was feeling. Part of the cause was the fact that he always dreamed about going on adventures, but never really dreamed about finding love. Oh, of course he used to have a crush on Smurfette, but it wasn't that strong at all compared to most of the other Smurfs.

"So, what were you daydreaming about this time?" Arrow decided to change the subject in her head.

"Huh? Oh, I was daydreaming about flying." Dreamy chuckled. "You've done that to me. Originally I just dreamed of traveling the world, sailing, or going to the moon. But ever since we started to become friends I've been daydreaming about flying more often."

"Well, wanna go for a flight now?" Arrow suggested.

"I'd love to!" Dreamy sat up.

Unlike the other Smurfs, Dreamy never minded the fact that Arrow hadn't perfected her landings. He saw her landing attempts as an adventure in itself. Arrow's parents didn't really mind either, though they did worry about her hurting herself. Or, if she was flying with Dreamy or her dad, hurting someone else.

Arrow picked up Dreamy and started to fly around the forest. Fortunately, Arrow was strong for her size so it didn't take much effort to carry anything the size of a Smurf around.

She and Dreamy flew for a long time, just enjoying the flight as well as each other's company. They ended up becoming distracted during the flight. Dreamy was concentrating on the scenery, and Arrow realized that she could feel Dreamy's heartbeat. This made her blush a little, since she realized that she enjoyed feeling it's beats. For one thing, most of a creature's personality is in the heart, meaning that Arrow was feeling Dreamy's adventurous nature and kindhearted personality. She then realized that her love for Dreamy couldn't be wrong, and decided to tell him how she felt once they landed.

That's what snapped her out of her thoughts: she realized that she was getting tired! Unfortunately, she forgot that she wasn't supposed to fly for a long time when carrying someone!

"Oh no." She paled.

"What's wrong Arrow?" Dreamy asked.

"I flew longer than I should have."

"Oh...uh-oh." Dreamy got the situation.

"I have to land fast before my strength gives out!" Arrow quickly looked for a soft spot.

"Over there, in the flower patch!" Dreamy pointed.

Arrow aimed for the flower patch, but lost strength before she could start landing! They both fell!

"Hang on Dreamy!" Arrow moved around so that she was hugging him in fright.

Dreamy then realized the full strength of his love for her, and hugged her back.

"We'll be okay." He said.

He then, at the last second, twisted around so that he would be first to land on the ground.

"Or at least you will." He added.

It took Arrow a few seconds to realize what he meant, but when she did it was too late. Fortunately some leaves slowed their fall, but Dreamy still landed slightly hard on the ground, Arrow on top of him.

"Oh no...Dreamy!" Arrow gasped, looking at him worriedly.

"I-I'm okay." Dreamy smiled. "Just a slight back pain. Thank goodness for those leaves."

"Why did you do that?" Arrow was relieved that Dreamy would live.

"Because I couldn't bear it if you got hurt."

"Oh Dreamy...I love you." Arrow hugged him.

"I love you too." Dreamy hugged her back.

They then kissed.

Now, since Arrow is a generation younger than Dreamy you'd think that their falling in love would cause problems. Not so. In Smurf culture if the two dating Smurfs were in the same part of life, like adulthood, then it was okay. A Smurfling dating an adult Smurf was obviously forbidden but two Smurflings or two adult Smurfs dating was widely accepted. Even if one of the adult Smurfs was centuries younger. You see after a Smurfling became a full grown Smurf he or she stopped counting the years they had been alive. By that point it just became too much. So to them an adult Smurf was an adult Smurf, generation gap or not.

After all, dating among Smurfs was a recent addition to the culture. They didn't even know if it had happened before Grandpa and Nanny's time. And even if they did, they probably wouldn't be able to find out who the last couple was. Also, the recent Smurfettes were made to live a shorter time than the Smurfs so that if they fell in love with a Smurf older than them there wouldn't be a huge gap between deaths. Even though Smurfs live for thousands of years eventually they will die of old age.

Sure enough, when they finally reached the village - it was a very long walk but they didn't mind - the other Smurfs were happy for them. Clumsy and Pansy had actually started to see it coming, so they weren't surprised.

Later that month, Aqua was talking to some fish in the river. Nat, who was taking one of his walks, unintentionally met up with her.

"Oh, hi Aqua." Nat smiled.

A little startled, but in a good way, Aqua turned around and smiled back.

"Hi Nat, out for a walk again?" Aqua guessed.

"Yup, although I was also thinking of taking a swim." Nat nodded. "Makes me glad I met up with you, after your mom you're the best swimmer in the village."

"Well I am part mermaid so it isn't surprising." Aqua giggled. "Okay, just let me wrap things up with Posie and Nero."

After she and her fish friends finished talking she entered the water, Nat following. They had a lot of fun swimming, and also had a splash fight. After a few hours they went back onto shore to dry off. They lay down in the grass and enjoyed the sunshine. But, when they stretched out, they accidentally touched each other's hands. Embarrassed, they pulled away, but then realized that they liked it. So, they touched hands again, only this time on purpose.

Nat turned and saw how beautiful Aqua really looked. Aqua then turned and realized how handsome Nat was.

"You know Aqua, I think you've become more beautiful than your mother." Nat blushed.

"Thank you, you've become very handsome too." Aqua blushed back.

Both their hearts started to pound. That's when they realized what had happened. They also were a little braver than Dreamy and Arrow had been so it didn't take them long to admit it either.

"Aqua, I've realized how complimentary we are." Nat said. "You talk to water creatures, which I can't do, and I talk to land creatures, which you can't do, so we balance each other. Yet we also both love nature and are really kind to everyone, preventing us from being too different from each other. And I think all that...has caused me to fall in love with you."

"Nat, I've realized all that too and I've also fallen in love...with you." Aqua smiled.

Nat smiled back, and they kissed.

When Handy and Marina found out they couldn't be happier. Nat had always been one of the most decent Smurfs in the village so Aqua had made a very good choice.

A few days after that Gardener Smurfette was picking flowers near her new house and sighing to herself. It wasn't a happy sigh nor was it a sad sigh. It was...kinda both. Hefty and Smurfette weren't there, they were out gathering more Smurfberries with a few other Smurfs, so only Slouchy noticed Gardener sighing.

"Is something wrong Flower?" Slouchy said, leaning against her house at the time.

He started to call her Flower back when they were Smurflings, for Gardener seem to love them even more than her mom did. If that was even possible.

"Not really, I'm just so happy for Dreamy and Arrow, and Nat and Aqua." Gardener smiled to him. "But...I don't know, I guess I also feel left out."

"Well you're not the only one." Slouchy smiled. "Sassette isn't dating anyone either."

"I know, but I've noticed that she and Snappy have started to become attracted to each other. They just don't want to admit it since they used to fight so much when we were all Smurflings."

"They used to fight a lot more before you and Arrow and Aqua were born." Slouchy chuckled.

"Oh brother, glad I missed that." Gardener chuckled back.

They both laughed a little.

"So how's your vegetable garden coming along?" Gardener asked.

"It's coming along great, I've got more than enough for myself so I was thinking of making vegetable soup for lunch later. Do you want to join me?"

"Sure, we can put these flowers I've picked in a vase and use it as a centerpiece for the table."

"Too late." Slouchy grinned. "I've already picked some flowers of my own and put them on my table."

"Really?" Gardener was surprised.

"Yeah, you kinda got me into flowers." Slouchy rubbed the back of his head, looking at the ground diagonally. "Especially sunflowers, love the seeds."

"Well you kinda got me into vegetables." Gardener smiled.

They both froze. They never realized how much they complimented each other before. Then when they looked at each other their hearts started to pound. They got what had happened instantly. Gardener smiled, but Slouchy looked shocked.

"Is something wrong Slouchy?" Gardener asked.

"Not really, it's just...I never expected to fall in love." Slouchy admitted.

Gardener was at first surprised that Slouchy admitted his feelings right away, but then remembered that Slouchy had always been the most blunt of the Smurflings. He could always make her laugh with his dry, witty remarks. Especially the ones against Brainy.

"Really? You mean you love me? Because I love you too." Gardner smiled.

Slouchy blushed happily.

"I'm glad...anyway yeah, ever since we became Smurflings Nat, Snappy and I agreed that we would never fall in love." Slouchy explained. "Of course at that time only Smurfette and Sassette were around, so we mostly meant 'in love with Sassette'. But even after Arrow, Aqua, and you arrived we still didn't expect to fall in love with either of you three. Nat changed his mind first of course, but unlike me he wasn't shocked about it. In my case part of the reason why I never expected to fall in love was because I never expected anyone to love me back. I'm not exactly the most useful or hard working Smurf around."

"Now that's not true." Gardener shook her head. "You can be useful and a hard worker, it just depends on the job. You've become a wonderful gardener of vegetables, even better than Farmer, for one thing. And you're very useful as a friend to me."

Gardener gently set the flowers she already picked onto the ground, went over to Slouchy, and kissed him. He froze, overwhelmed by the love he felt from her, and then relaxed and kissed her back.

Hefty and Smurfette, unlike previous parents, were surprised when they found out who their daughter fell in love with. But, like the previous parents, they accepted the relationship.

Eventually all three couples married, but since they had thousands of years ahead of them they didn't rush into it. And before that happened something else happened, something big and very unpleasant. Something that would put Magic's powers to the test.


	6. The Ultimate Battle

A few months after Gardener and Slouchy became a couple a group of Smurfs as well as Pansy and Marina were picking more Smurfberries near the edge of the protective shield. Unexpectedly, a stampede of all sorts of forest animals zoomed past them.

"Whoa!" Clumsy said, having fallen into a bush. "What's all the commotion about?"

"Beats me." Vanity shrugged.

"Oh no, look!" Pansy gasped.

Everyone did and saw what the problem was: the forest was being destroyed! And not with axes or a fire, instead the trees lost their leaves and turned gray and the grass became brown and almost nonexistent. A dark cloud was also forming in the sky...

"We have to let Papa Smurf know!" Brainy said, rushing towards the village.

Everyone else quickly followed.

When they reached the village they told Papa Smurf what they saw.

"This is bad...hang on my little Smurfs I'll be right back." Papa Smurf said. "Feathers!"

Feathers flew down and let Papa Smurf on. Feathers then flew into the air. When Papa Smurf and Feathers came back Papa Smurf looked very worried.

"This is very bad everyone, it looks like the forest is being destroyed magically." He said after he dismounted Feathers.

All the Smurfs as well as the Pussywillow Pixies and Marina started talking amongst themselves worriedly.

"The good news is that the spell won't reach us thanks to the protective shield." Papa Smurf continued. "The bad news is that the spell is being cast by an old foe: Gargamel."

Everyone else gasped!

"Gargamel?" Brainy repeated. "But the guy's lousy with magic!"

"Yes, back when he concentrated on catching us." Grandpa Smurf said. "But it looks like that not being able to catch us as easily as before caused him to practice his magic even more. This must've allowed him to become stronger in magic."

"And I could tell that it was Gargamel because apart from our protected section the only part of the forest that wasn't being destroyed was a small area around his hovel." Papa Smurf added.

Suddenly, Clockwork Smurf and Clockwork Smurfette appeared, very scared. Fortunately, by this point Handy had learned how to speak their language. He did create voice boxes for them but they decided to go without them since they felt weird.

"Oh no, it's even worse than we thought." Handy now looked scared after listening to what Clockwork Smurf said. "Gargamel has apparently turned all the royals to stone!"

"He must be trying to take over the world!" Hefty realized.

The Smurfs started to panic a little.

"Now now, calm down everyone!" Magic spoke up; he had changed a bit since he was a Smurfling, for he now wore a wizard's hat with moons on it. "We may be safe from Gargamel but I am not going to let him take the rest of the world without a fight!"

"Fight someone who can turn others to stone?" Brainy said skeptically.

"Always the pessimist, aren't you Brainy?" Magic shook his head. "Look, I can use magic too remember? So can Papa Smurf. If we all work together we can still defeat him!"

The other Smurfs started to nod and murmur in agreement.

"Not all Magic, Grandpa, Nanny, and I are too old for that sort of action." Papa Smurf shook his head regrettably. "We'll have to stay behind."

"That's actually not a bad idea, you, Grandpa, and the women had better set up a hospital for those who have gotten hurt." Magic agreed. "I know we can win this, but some of us will probably get hurt."

"Or kil-" Brainy was cut off because Hefty slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Don't make me punch you out of the village again." Hefty warned.

Brainy frowned and fell silent.

"Handy, you too had better stay behind to help build the hospital." Magic continued, ignoring Brainy and Hefty. "No one is a better builder than you."

"Right!" Handy saluted.

"Papa Smurf and Grandpa Smurf, prepare as much medicine as you can." Magic continued. "All of you women had better get to work making bandages, Tailor, you help them."

The women, except for Nanny, and Tailor agreed and left for Tailor's house to start. Papa Smurf and Grandpa Smurf left, Nanny joining them, to gather ingredients for medicines.

"The rest of you, prepare to battle." Magic said to the rest of the Smurfs. "And we're not going to do this alone either, I know the animals must be ticked off about losing their homes. I'll create a few spells that will allow them and some of you to battle without any trouble. Let's go!"

The rest of the Smurfs ran off to prepare for battle. Even Lazy remained alert and Slouchy straightened up for battle. And Magic was right, the animals did want to help. However some had to stay behind, especially the smaller ones like frogs and mice.

Magic used spells to give the deer swords and lances in place of antlers, to strengthen rabbits' hind legs for high jumping and heavy kicking, and to give songbirds enough strength to drop heavy rocks. They were also made faster along with other birds so that all the birds could fly fast enough to not be detected right away. Beavers were given metal teeth and clubs for tails and carnivores like wolves had their teeth and claws lengthened and strengthened. Porcupines had their quills altered so that they could shoot metal ones repeatedly, much like a machine gun, without becoming bald.

You see, Magic had a feeling that Gargamel wouldn't be fighting them alone. He'll probably conjure beasts of some sort or something. So, he wanted to be prepared for that.

Smurfs hopped onto rabbits and birds, and were given armor, spears, and swords by Magic. Magic hopped on a deer at the front of the group.

"Ready Smurfs? CHAAAAARRRGGGGE!" Magic called out.

Harmony blew his trumpet in agreement.

Before continuing with the story I should explain something: many changes had happened with Gargamel, Azrael, and Scruple. The hovel was bigger than before, two storied, and had a tower with a flat top on one side. Gargamel didn't change much, except he lost a lot of color in his hair and gained wrinkles. But he didn't have as many wrinkles as his robe had patches. Azrael hadn't changed that much, since he was a wizard's pet he was able to live longer than even a tortoise or turtle could, but he was skinnier and ganglier.

Scruple grew and was now an adult. It was his change that was the most surprising: if he wasn't evil he could be thought of as handsome. He had become physically stronger due to being forced to run errands and do chores (after Gargamel became stronger with his magic Scruple decided that it would be foolish to argue with him about the matter). His hair also wasn't as wild as it used to be, Scruple found that short hair was easier on both him and Gargamel. For one thing Scruple didn't need to brush his hair as desperately, and for another thing his hair didn't repeatedly fall into Gargamel's potions.

A few minutes later, Scruple looked out the window of Gargamel's hovel.

"Hey Gargamel," Scruple called. "I think the Smurfs found out about you destroying most of the forest."

"I had a feeling doing so would bring those little blue morsels to us." Gargamel cackled. "Let's see how they can handle the new and improved Gargamel!"

"'New and improved'." Scruple muttered sarcastically to himself. "That really needs to be debated."

"Yeah." Azrael meowed in agreement, having overheard him.

Gargamel went to the top of his tower and started to conjure up a spell:

Wind and storm like never before

Beasts and demons galore

Stand before your new master and vow

To destroy those Smurfs here and now!

Sure enough, indescribable beasts and demons rose from the ground and charged towards Magic and the other Smurfs.

"Steady Smurfs, onward!" Magic called, noticing the beasts and demons. "Don't let them win!"

And so begun the Smurfs' biggest and most violent battle ever. The Smurfs were able to use their weapons to keep from getting killed, but many of them got hurt. Fortunately, the worst of the injuries were no more than a broken limb. Whenever a Smurf's limb was broken a bird swopped in, grabbed the hurt Smurf, and flew them back towards the village to be taken care of.

The animals were a big help in battling too. Deer charged towards the beasts and demons and knocked them off their feet, stabbing and killing many in the process. Porcupines badly wounded many more with their quills. Beavers and rabbits used club tails and stronger hind legs to bruise many, and beavers helped carnivores bite many more. Carnivores also scratched through quite a few demons.

It was a long battle, but near the end of the day it was all over. All the beasts and demons had been defeated. Around half of the Smurfs were now in the village having their broken limbs and other injuries tended too.

Hefty, Magic, Grouchy, Snappy, one unknown Smurf, and Sweepy were among the many still able to fight.

Gargamel, Scruple, and Azrael were stunned speechless for a while. Then Scruple found his voice:

"I think one of them became strong in magic too." He said.

"Quiet Scruple, I have to think." Gargamel muttered. "Yes, that'll do it."

He then conjured up a ferocious dragon with two heads!

"Flaming fireflies!" The unknown Smurf spoke up.

Everyone turned to the unknown Smurf. There was only one among them who talked like that. The female voice clinched it.

"Sassette?" Snappy was slightly surprised.

Sassette lifted her helmet sheepishly.

"Well, did you really think I was gonna stay out of the action?" She shrugged.

The others just shook their heads. Sometimes they forgot how much of a tomboy Sassette really was.

"Careful Smurfs, this is going to require teamwork." Magic said to the remaining Smurfs. "Best scatter, that way this dragon can't hurt all of us at once."

They did. Suddenly the dragon...dragons...uh, how do yo put it with multi-headed creatures anyway? Oh well I'll just use the singular. Anyway suddenly the dragon unleashed a huge fireball that was heading right for Sassette!

Unexpectedly, Snappy rushed forward and knocked her out of the way just in time! Snappy wasn't so lucky though, one of his legs had caught on fire!

"Snappy!" Sassette gasped, running over to him and pouring dirt over the fire to put it out.

Fortunately, the dragon had been so distracted by Snappy and Sassette that it gave Hefty the opportunity to leap onto it, thanks to his rabbit steed, and stabbed it multiple times.

"Snappy, why did you do that?" Sassette asked.

"Because...because I've been stupid." Snappy looked emotional, a rare look for him.

"Well risking your life was stupid-"

"No, I mean all these centuries I..." Snappy gulped and took a deep breath. "I've loved you."

Sassette was surprised and started to look emotional too.

"I mean it Sassette, for a long time I've loved you I was just too stubborn to admit it, because of our not getting along when we were Smurflings." Snappy continued. "But when we became full grown Smurfs I realized that I really did love you...now I wish I had admitted it sooner."

Sassette suddenly kissed him! Snappy's eyes widened, very surprised.

"I've loved you this whole time too." Sassette smiled after she stopped the kiss.

Snappy couldn't be happier. He then kissed her back, and she returned it.

"Love, it can conquer all kinds of battles." Sweepy said to himself, glad that the two finally admitted their love for each other.

However the situation was too dangerous for a long kiss, but even so Sweepy didn't want to ruin their happy moment. So, he compromised by standing in front of them, ready to protect them should the dragon or something else attack them.

"And I will not let this battle harm their love." He added to himself.

Hefty by this point had finished stabbing the dragon, who crumbled into ashes.

"Stay behind everyone, this is now my battle." Magic said to the remaining Smurfs. "Hi-yo Steelblade, away!"

His deer steed ran forward and leapt over the tower, allowing Magic to land on top of it in front of Gargamel.

"It's you and me now Gargamel, Smurfo-a-mano." Magic said.

"I'm guessing you're the little blue imp who gave those animals weaponry." Gargamel glared.

"You guessed right Gargamel." Magic glared back.

"But who are you?"

"Magic Smurf. I used to be Baby Smurf, in case you remember me."

"Do I! I almost used you to test my gold formula once. That is until Smurfette had a third change of heart and turned back into a Smurf."

"Yeah the others told me about that when they explained where Smurfette and Sassette came from. Enough talk let's fight!"

They did, they started sending magical blasts at each other. At first it looked as if they were evenly matched. Then, they sent blasts at each other so that they met in midair, causing Magic and Gargamel to have the opposite of a tug-of-war. It was more like a push-of-war.

Then, Magic thought about his family, and of all the creatures and people who had been in danger or who had now been harmed thanks to this villain. His love for them caused his magic to strengthen, and he was able to knock Gargamel off his feet.

"Impossible, how can a three-apple-sized creature possibly be stronger than me?" Gargamel was both indignant and a little scared.

"Because I have one power you will never have: the power of love." Magic replied sincerely.

At that, Magic, with a huge cry, summoned all of his strength and sent a gigantic blast of magic right at Gargamel! The blast hit Gargamel in the heart, causing him to scream in pain. Scruple and Azrael watched with fear as Gargamel continued screaming in pain, writhing around.

Suddenly, Azrael fell to the ground screaming in pain too. You see his life was connected with Gargamel's. It was only Gargamel's power that was making him live much longer than normal. So, when Gargamel vaporized into thin air, never to be seen again, the same thing happened to Azrael.

Scruple froze with horror, then suddenly fell to the ground in sheer terror.

"Please! Please don't kill me!" Scruple pleaded, terrified. "I don't wanna die! I won't hurt any of you ever again I promise just please let me live!"

Now Magic may be very defensive of those he loved, but he wasn't without compassion or mercy. Besides, he had drained himself of most of his power for a while so he doubted that he would be able to kill Scruple anyway. But he wasn't going to say so out loud.

"Fine, I'll let you live." Magic said, trying not to show how tired he was. "But on a few conditions."

"Anything, just name it!" Scruple still cowered, but managed to find enough courage to look at Magic.

"No more magic, at least for a year." Magic said. "You have to earn an honest living now as a non-magical human. You also can't be cruel or mean to others, you have to learn to be kind and helpful. When the year is up, if you have reformed then I'll let you use magic again but it can't be used to harm others. If you haven't reformed then you'll have to go another year without magic. This will continue until you have fully reformed."

Now, normally that sort of thing would have angered Scruple, but at the moment he was just grateful that he wasn't going to be killed.

"I'll agree, you have my word." Scruple started to calm down.

"Now, I have ways of checking on others so don't think you can back down on your promise." Magic said sternly.

"I won't." Scruple meant it sincerely, crossing his heart.

"Then go, you're free."

Scruple went down the tower and ran off.

Now while this was going on, Gargamel's spells were wearing off. The forest came back and those who had been turned to stone changed back to flesh. After the Smurfs watched Scruple run away they noticed that the forest was back and cheered. Magic, with the help of a rabbit, met them on the ground and smiled happily. He was too tired to cheer like them.

"Let's get back to the village and rest now, I'm beat." Magic said after the cheering had died down.

They did, but before Magic joined the Smurfs he reverted the animals back to their original selves.

When they reached the village they explained what had happened to the wounded and those tending the wounded. Everyone was relieved, and a little surprised that Magic had spared Scruple.

"Not too surprising, remember Scruple was forced to live with Gargamel and didn't enjoy helping him." Papa Smurf pointed out. "Besides, if Gargamel's and Azrael's deaths were as painful as they seemed then Scruple was obviously scared of dying the same way."

The others nodded in agreement.

"Say, where is Magic?" Nat pointed out.

Everyone looked and saw that Magic was gone! They quickly searched for him, only to find that Magic had been so worn out from the battle that he just went straight to bed.

"Performing powerful magic can take a lot out of you." Papa Smurf chuckled. "Let's let him sleep, we'll celebrate later after everyone is well."

The next day, Magic had recovered enough to use healing spells on Snappy and the Smurfs who had a broken arm or leg. A few days after that, they celebrated.

And a couple months after that, all the new couples - Dreamy and Arrow, Nat and Aqua, Slouchy and Gardener, and Snappy and Sassette - were married. Not on the same day mind you, but the weddings were pretty close to each other.

Everything was now at peace for the Smurfs. Oh sure they did help their human friends with enemies and such when needed, but they never again had to face the same dangers they had back when Gargamel was still alive.


	7. The Second Battle

A.N. Yup, this is going to be the personal battle I mentioned in the first chapter. More specifically, it's Scruple's internal battle with his evil side.

Now as for Scruple, when he reached the village he realized that he agreed to Magic's conditions a little too hastily. He had forgotten that his only talent was in magic.

"Great, what job am I supposed to get when I don't have any skills?" He muttered.

As he wandered around the village, he saw a sign in front of a restaurant that read: 'Wanted: Dishwasher. Apply in Back'.

"Aw great, back to cleaning?" Scruple frowned to himself. "Well, it should be better than dying the way Gargamel did...that looked really painful." He shuddered a little.

He went to the back of the restaurant and knocked on the door. A man opened the door.

"Yes?" He said.

"I, uh, I'm here about the job." Scruple said awkwardly, never having applied for a job before.

"Good I was wondering if anyone was going to apply." The man said, relieved. "Any experience in dishwashing?"

"More than I wanted." Scruple said dryly. "Er, that is I used to clean all the time for my uncle. He just passed away and I don't have any other talents..."

Now of course that was a lie but he didn't want to reveal his magical abilities since he wasn't allowed to use them.

"Ah, I see. Sorry about your uncle."

"Don't be, he was a slave-driver." Scruple shook his head. "I only stayed with him because I had nowhere else to go. My parents died a long time ago. Now that you can be sorry for, they were good parents. Maybe a little strict, but at least they weren't slave drivers. They actually cared about me unlike my uncle...although in his defense I was kinda forced on him."

His parents died centuries ago, actually, but he couldn't reveal that either.

"Poor dear." A woman then showed up. "What happened to your parents?"

"Accident-" Scruple hesitated since he didn't want to reveal about his parents being magic. "They were experimenting with a new medicine idea but something went wrong, blew up the room. I was at school at the time."

"I very sorry to hear that." The woman said. "Oh, uh, Elward, who is this?"

"Sorry, my name is Scruple. I'm hear about the job."

"Pleased to meet you, I'm Alexia and this is my husband Elward." The woman smiled.

"Right...sorry haven't gone out much." Scruple felt really awkward.

"It's okay, you won't have to worry about conversing with others while you're working in the kitchen." Elward smiled. "Come on in, we'll get you set up."

Scruple followed them into the building. He then saw that he had entered the kitchen of the restaurant.

"Now normally the job only had pay, but we can throw in free room and board since you have nowhere else to go." Elward said. "We live upstairs, above the restaurant, and have a free room."

"I, uh, don't want to impose." Scruple felt uncomfortable about 'room and board' being free.

"Nonsense, we have been feeling lonely lately anyway." Elward waved a hand. "You agree with me right Alexia?"

"Of course, we wouldn't mind." Alexia nodded.

"Well, I guess it's okay for now." Scruple shrugged, giving in.

After settling on his salary, Scruple got to work. Elward took the orders and Alexia cooked the meals. It wasn't a huge restaurant or anything, so they didn't need that much help.

Scruple started to regret pleading for mercy. He was already so tired of doing housework that he now wanted to be put out of his misery. But then he remembered that Gargamel and Azrael had been in great pain when they died. As tedious as housework was at least it didn't hurt.

"Well, maybe I can endure it for a week or so." Scruple said to himself.

A couple months passed and he still was hating his new job. And his regret of pleading for mercy didn't go away. But one thing kept him from quitting: Elward and Alexia were nice to him. No one had been nice to him since his parents died and it felt good to be experiencing it again.

Elward and Alexia had no idea that Scruple used to be a troublemaker and selfish. All they knew was that he had a hard past and was a good worker. Even though they didn't know much about him, he already started to feel like a son to them.

Scruple opened up a little more to them too. He still kept his delinquent past and his magical heritage a secret but he did talk to them about other subjects.

By the fifth month, unknown to him, he was starting to change. He no longer felt hateful and his regret of pleading for mercy was diminishing.

It wasn't until the seventh month that he realized how much he had changed, and he found out due to feeling something that he had never felt before. Normally when a little kid was crying over a broken toy or something similar Scruple would find the whole thing amusing.

But when he was walking back to the restaurant after picking up some groceries he saw a bully break a younger kid's horse shaped pull-toy. He ended up feeling sorry for the younger kid, and almost felt a little sad. However, having not felt sympathy or anything similar in a long time, Scruple couldn't figure out what he was feeling. Not knowing what to do, he continued on with a heavy heart.

When he got back to the restaurant his downed expression didn't go unnoticed.

"Are you okay Scruple?" Alexia asked as she cooked up some soup.

"I don't know, I saw a kid break a younger kid's toy and I started feeling weird." Scruple shrugged as he sat down at the kitchen table they always ate at.

"What do you mean? Have you never felt sorry for someone else before?" Alexia was surprised.

Scruple's eyes widened. So that's what he had been feeling.

"Well, I think so, just...just not in a very long time." Scruple was very surprised.

So was Alexia.

"I find that surprising." She said. "Both Elward and I think you're a nice, honest, hard-working young lad so I don't understand how you can't feel sympathy or compassion for others."

Scruple didn't say anything, he couldn't. He didn't know what to say. He started to feel worse, but he didn't know why. You see what he was feeling was guilt, something else he hadn't felt in a long time. He then remembered that he never told Elward or Alexia about how cruel and mean he used to be and felt horrible. All these weeks of them being nice to him and thinking he was a good lad and they never knew the truth about him. He now felt a great pain in his chest.

"Scruple?" Alexia was concerned.

Then Scruple did something he hadn't done in centuries: cry. Alexia, now worried, sat down next to him and put an arm around him. That just made him feel worse, he didn't deserve her kindness.

Elward then came in.

"I thought I heard someone cry, what's wrong?" He asked.

"I don't know, he was telling me that he felt weird when he saw a child's toy get broken. I asked him if he ever felt sorry for anyone else before, he said that he hadn't in a long time." Alexia explained. "Then he fell silent and started crying."

"Maybe there's more about his past that he hadn't told us." Elward suggested. "We'll let him recover and ask him more about it this evening after we close up."

Scruple cried for so long that he ended up falling asleep, which can happen when one cries long enough. Elward and Alexia took over doing the dishes. Fortunately, it wasn't a busy day that day.

That night, Scruple woke up and realized that he slept the rest of the work day away.

"Oh no-"

"It's okay Scruple, we saw how bad you were feeling so we let you sleep." Elward said, coming into the kitchen.

Alexia then arrived.

"Sorry, I...there's just something about me I never told you. I'm ashamed of it now." Scruple hung his head.

"What is it?" Alexia sat down across from Scruple; Elward joined her.

"I-I'm not honest or nice." Scruple said. "You're both all wrong about me. When my parents died I started playing pranks and causing trouble at the school up to the point where they kicked me out. And that didn't teach me lesson either, I became worse. I started being mean to everyone and hating everyone. I-I became evil. And living with my uncle helped with that, he was evil too. When he died...he didn't just pass away. He had become so evil that he was killed, and I begged to not be killed too. The one who killed my uncle agreed as long as I started a new life, one where I would help others and stop being mean to them. I was so scared of death that I automatically agreed. Later I first almost regretted agreeing...but you two have been so nice to me that I got used to my new life. And I guess your being nice to me also changed me, made me feel things I hadn't felt in years. Things like sympathy."

Scruple hung his head, very ashamed.

But, Elward and Alexia weren't appalled or angry or anything of the sort. Instead, they felt sorry for him.

"You're not evil, you never were." Alexia said.

Scruple looked up, surprised.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"You started acting like a troublemaker after your parents died right? Never before?"

"Well, no."

"There you go, your parents' deaths obviously broke your heart. You've only been taking the pain out on everyone else, that's all." Alexia smiled.

Scruple looked at her, astonished. He never even thought of that explanation. All he knew was that he felt a huge pain in his heart when his parents died, and that it angered him up to the point of acting cruel. The pain never went away, but he did numb to it and almost forgot about it while still acting cruel.

He then realized that she was right, and started to feel much better.

"Come now, let's go to bed." Elward smiled. "I think you can really start enjoying your new life now that you've realized how much you've changed."

"Yeah...and you know what? I'm glad I changed." Scruple smiled.

Sure enough, the next day Scruple was happier and was really nice to everyone when he was able to get a break and could walk around the village.

As the months passed, Scruple completely reformed. In fact, he forgot about using magic until a month after the year was over. Then he remembered and rushed towards the Smurfs' village. He stopped just before the first Smurfberry patch though, and hesitated. He didn't know if he had reformed enough to be able to go through the protective shield.

After a few minutes, he took a deep breath and tested it by sticking his arm out. He didn't feel anything solid so he slowly walked until he noticed that he had passed the Smurfberry patch! He froze, stunned.

"I really have reformed." Scruple said to himself. "I'm no longer evil."

At that moment he felt the lightest he had ever felt. He smiled, and rushed through the forest, calling for the Smurfs. Specifically Magic.

It didn't take long for the Smurfs to hear Scruple calling.

"That's...that's Scruple." Magic smiled, recognizing the voice.

"Wow, didn't think he'd actually reform." Brainy remarked; as skeptical as he could be not even he could question the power of the protective shield.

Magic, with a few other Smurfs following, ran over to Scruple.

"Ah, there you are, I was wondering if it was okay for me to get back to practicing magic." Scruple smiled, kneeling down.

"Apparently you could've gone back to practicing magic about a month ago." Magic smiled, amused.

"Yeah, well, I forgot." Scruple rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I've been enjoying my new life so much. But I still miss doing magic. Don't worry I'll use it to help others. The thing is...Gargamel's spellbook can't be used to help others so where am I going to get a spellbook that can?"

"Oh our old friend Homnibus can help you with that." Papa Smurf smiled. "We'll take you to him."

They went over to Homnibus's house. When they got there Justin opened the door. He had become Homnibus's apprentice, and so already knew about the Smurfs, but now was Homnibus's assistant. Scruple explained the whole story, and Homnibus was happy to loan him some books.

When Scruple got back he told Elward and Alexia the entire truth, except for the part about the Smurfs. They were surprised to learn that he could use magic, but understood why he didn't tell them earlier.

Scruple spent the following year practicing good magic, and due to already having practiced the basics he quickly mastered most of the spells. He still washed dishes for the couple, but now also went around giving spells to those who needed it. He never asked for payment, but if his customers/patients offered him some money he accepted it. He only did so that he could buy more potion ingredients for the future as well as gifts for Elward and Alexia for holidays or other momentous occasions.


	8. A Smurfy Reunion

A.N. Now, the ending of this chapter was thanks to peachy author and CartoonCaster21. I asked them if doing what I did was a good idea and they were all for it.

Due to his new kind nature, his good looks, and his ability to help others with magic, girls started to develop crushes on him and kept asking him out. He politely turned them all down. None of the girls made him feel any romantic love and after the mistakes he made when he was younger he wanted to keep himself from making any more. Besides, none of the girls in the village knew about his past, and he had a feeling that they'd shun him if they did.

After a couple of years, there was a new visitor in town. She immediately attracted attention, because she was obviously a witch. She wore a royal purple robe with gold colored sleeve edges and sash, a royal purple witch hat with a gold crescent moon on it, and carried a wand with a star-shaped tip. Since the village wasn't prejudice against magic practitioners, she was greeted warmly...especially by the boys. She was very attractive, with long black hair and a very kind nature. However, whenever a boy asked her out she turned him down, and never explained why.

Since Scruple had been cooped up inside washing dishes and replenishing his potion supplies he didn't find out about the girl until he was able to take a break a couple of days later. Then when he saw her he couldn't believe how different he felt. His heart started pounding and he suddenly felt nervous yet happy. He realized that he automatically fell in love with her, but ignored it due to another feeling: the feeling of recognition. Something about that girl made Scruple believe that he had met her before, even though he couldn't remember who she was or how they met or why she seemed familiar. He decided to talk to her, maybe that would refresh his memory.

"Hello." Scruple said after catching up to her.

By that point they were a little ways into the woods. Scruple took some time catching up due to nerves...

"Oh hi-" The young witch stopped and looked confused. "That's weird, you seem familiar."

"Really? You seemed familiar to me." Scruple was a little surprised. "That's why I came over."

"Huh, maybe we met a long time ago and can't remember." The witch shrugged.

"Maybe...what's your name?"

"Brenda."

"That name seems very familiar." Scruple frowned thoughtfully.

"What's your name?" Brenda smiled.

"Scruple."

Brenda's smile turned into a glare of hatred, and she looked at him coldly. Scruple immediately felt uncomfortable and awkward.

"What's wrong?" Scruple asked.

"You...remember that ball you took a young witch to only because you were interested in her wand?" Brenda almost growled.

Scruple paled.

"Oh no...I forgot about that."

"Figures. You broke my heart and I've never forgiven you for it. I haven't even been able to date other guys in a long time because of what you did to me!" Brenda snapped.

"You mean I destroyed your confidence in love?" Scruple guessed.

"No, you made me fall in love with you! I haven't been able to love anyone since! I tried to date others at first but they didn't work out!"

Scruple had never felt so horrible in his life. Back then he wanted so much to become powerful in magic so that he could leave Gargamel that when he saw Brenda's wand, well, he didn't think of how she would react. Obviously back then he would have only worried about being punished - he, Gargamel, and even Azrael were, they were changed into pigs - but now he wished he had thought about her feelings before going for the wand.

"You fell in love with me?" Scruple was shocked as well as feeling horrible.

"Yes, back then I thought you were handsome." Brenda almost started to cry. "I still can't figure out why I thought that then..."

Scruple looked touched.

"No one had ever complimented me, even indirectly, when I was a kid before." Scruple was close to crying himself, which was caused by guilt, remorse, and being affected by her compliment.

"I'm not surprised." Brenda scorned. "So what happened to 'Gargy'?"

Scruple chuckled.

"I almost forgot about calling him that, drove him crazy." Scruple slightly smiled, since he was still upset about hurting Brenda. "One time he threatened to turn me into a broom unless I stopped. Obviously I did."

Brenda was amused, but didn't show it.

"Anyway, he and Azrael are dead. Magic Smurf killed them a little over three years ago." Scruple explained. "I was almost next but I pleaded to be spared. Magic agreed as long as I reformed. I did, and I couldn't be happier with my new life."

Brenda looked at him with shock and then suspicion.

"How can I be so sure that you're telling the truth?" She glared.

"The Smurfs can confirm it, but even so I don't blame you for not believing me." Scruple hung his head slightly. "Brenda I am so sorry about that night, really. I just wanted to escape Gargamel so bad that I wasn't thinking. Well, truthfully I never really thought that much back then. When my parents died in that magical explosion it broke my heart and caused me to become cruel up to the point of becoming evil. I can't even describe how bad I feel about that now."

Brenda's face almost softened. She was torn between believing him and not believing him.

"Brenda I mean it, I now feel horrible about the way I used to be." Scruple knew that she didn't believe him yet. "And I also feel horrible about hurting you...especially since you're the first one to have loved me since my parents died. I was so stupid to have not seen it. I should have accepted that chance to be loved again. Of course after breaking your heart I wouldn't blame you if you hated me now. I deserve it."

He started to cry. Brenda really softened now, and almost felt like crying herself.

"I don't deserve my new life." Scruple sobbed. "I've been trying to make up for it, helping people with my potions, but it's no use. You've reminded me that I can't undo the pain I've caused in the past."

He fell to his knees sobbing.

"I should've let Magic kill me. I deserve to be punished."

Brenda's heart melted. No one could ever fake remorse up to the point of believing that he or she deserved punishment and no second chances. That sort of thing took a feeling of guilt and remorse too strong to be faked.

"Scruple...you really have reformed haven't you?" She said, now believing him.

"Yes...oh Brenda I'm sorry. I'm honestly and extremely sorry." Scruple was crying. "Having had a broken heart of my own I know the pain you must've gone through...do whatever you want to me, I deserve whatever punishment you'll give me. Anyone who would cause someone else that much pain would deserve it."

He waited for a painful blast of magic, but it never came. Instead, he felt as if he was being hugged! He was! Brenda was hugging him!

"But anyone who would feel so much guilt and remorse over causing that pain deserves to be forgiven." Brenda said, sobbing with sympathy. "I had no idea that you had a broken heart too."

"It might still be, I don't know." Scruple started to calm down. "Nowadays I can't figure out if I'm still feeling pain from my parents' deaths or if all the pain is guilt-related."

"Well stop feeling guilt-related pain about that night." Brenda drew back a little so that Scruple could see that she was smiling at him. "I forgive you."

"You do?" Scruple couldn't believe it; he thought Brenda's earlier mention of forgiveness was hypothetical.

"Yes, crazy as it sounds...I still love you. I've continued loving you after all this time. That's why I've never been able to date anyone else." Brenda explained.

Scruple felt as if he was dreaming. Not only was he being forgiven but, even more surprisingly, he was still loved by someone he had hurt deeply.

"Truthfully, when I first saw you in the village I was struck with a deep feeling of love, love for you." Scruple smiled. "Maybe...maybe I really have loved you all this time and my evil nature buried it so that I wouldn't notice."

Brenda now felt as if she were dreaming. She got up, pulling Scruple up with her.

"You do? You love me?" Brenda wanted to make sure.

"I haven't loved anyone else in the village, at least not romantically." Scruple blushed a little. "But when I saw you it was like someone poured a love potion down my throat."

They then really noticed how close they were to each other, and the hearts started to beat faster as well as a little harder.

"Still...I don't deserve your love-"

"Stop it Scruple." Brenda interrupted. "If I can still love you all this time, despite you breaking my heart, then it must mean something. I mean my heart isn't broken anymore, and that's really something. Look, forget about the past now, just concentrate on the future. As long as you've learned from your past mistakes that's all that matters." She hugged him again.

Scruple was overwhelmed with remorse and love. Only this time the remorse was for ruining the first chance he ever had with her. He silently vowed not to ruin his second chance with her for anything.

He hugged her back, and they stayed like that enjoying each other's warmth. When they broke free Scruple was really smiling this time.

"Brenda, this time I won't break your heart." Scruple promised. "I couldn't, not again, doing so would hurt me enough to probably kill me. I know I could never feel this much love for just anyone so you must be right, our being in love must mean something, something special."

Brenda smiled, touched, and kissed him. Scruple froze, more than overwhelmed. Brenda's love had conquered him, not only was his heart speeding rapidly but his brain had melted. Well, at least metaphorically. He was about to be suffocated, when Brenda stopped the kiss. Scruple's eyes became hearts and he wobbled over to a tree to try to keep his balance.

"Wow." He said breathlessly.

"Are you okay?" Brenda asked, going over to him.

"Yeah, I've just never felt so much love before." Scruple smiled almost goofily.

Brenda smiled, slightly blushing. She gently put a hand to his cheek as she waited for him to recover, gazing at him.

Scruple recovered sooner than expected, for he then suddenly kissed Brenda. Her eyes opened wide with surprise, and then closed with happiness. She had now been conquered, and when the kiss ended her heart started beating slightly out of her chest.

"Me neither." She smiled.

This time they kissed together. They had become one.

"I-I guess we're meant to be." Scruple was still overwhelmed. "This whole time, we were meant to be together."

"And we will be together forever." Brenda rested her head into his chest. "Especially after we're married."

Scruple really blushed this time.

"Oh, gee..." He said weakly, his heart starting to pound hard. "Not that I don't want to...I mean...well, we just started dating...I've never dated anyone before..." His throat suddenly tightened and he had to swallow hard to loosen it; didn't work, so he kept trying.

"Sorry, I guess my heart spoke before my brain could stop it." Brenda blushed too. "I'll leave that part up to you, I know you're still getting used to your new life. I just want to be part of it now, even we don't go any farther than dating."

Scruple was finally able to swallow his throat loose.

"I really want you in my life too." He said. "We'll just see how things go. I don't want to spend the rest of my life being a dishwasher for one thing, I'm really getting into helping people with my magic. Besides, I kinda miss living in the woods. But Elward and Alexia, my bosses, have been like second parents to me and I don't want to leave them just yet."

"I understand." Brenda smiled. "Hey, we have centuries ahead of us right?"

"Right." Scruple smiled back, nodding.

Brenda regrettably had to leave, since she was traveling now, but she promised to return later. Scruple sadly watched her leave, and then happily walked back to the restaurant. Even though he was going to miss her he was so happy to finally feel love for someone who loved him back. This didn't go unnoticed either, the people he met instantly guessed that he had fallen in love. Elward and Alexia guessed it too when Scruple returned and when he confirmed it they were overjoyed.

A.N. Yeah, if it wasn't for peachy author and CartoonCaster21 I probably would've just had Brenda and Scruple become friends instead of a couple.


	9. No More Broken Hearts

The good news was, Elward and Alexia weren't too far away from retiring. They decided another year or two would be good and then they would sell the restaurant to someone else. Scruple decided to spend those two years finding a good spot for a new house for him. And for Elward and Alexia too, to repay them for letting him live with them. Of course they wouldn't live in the same building as he and, eventually, Brenda were going to live in. Elward and Alexia would have their own private cabin near his.

Scruple eventually found a beautiful clearing that was near enough to the village for quick visits but far away enough so that the village was out of sight. He got to work building the two cabins, using his magic for the trickier parts, and by the time he was done Brenda had returned. She loved his new house, and also enjoyed meeting his second parents, who in turn enjoyed meeting her.

About sixth months of dating later, Scruple and Brenda couldn't wait any longer and got married. Elward and Alexia threw them a party in the restaurant, and the following month retired.

The new family were very happy in their two new homes. Scruple was now fully healed of both his parents' deaths and his guilt for his past. Brenda had been right, it was time to forget the past and concentrate on the future. Especially a couple years into the future, which brought a son to him and Brenda.

Scruple couldn't be happier, finally he had a family again. A family he vowed not to lose. Brenda was extremely happy too, finally she was with the boy she had always loved. And the best part was, this time he loved her back with all his heart.

Their son, Alaire for the happiness they now shared, grew up to be kindhearted and skilled in magic like his parents. He too became a friend of the Smurfs, same with Elward and Alexia. Scruple wanted to ask the Smurfs their permission before introducing his second parents to them.

Alaire did find out about his dad's past, but wasn't disgusted by how his dad was as a kid. Instead he felt sorry for him, and was glad that his dad reformed. His great-uncle Gargamel on the other hand was another story, but an understandable one.

Neither Scruple nor Brenda were ever heartbroken again.


End file.
